A Rose by any other name
by cherri0196
Summary: Hermione's in St. Mungo's and Ron's worried sick. What could he possibly be worried about?


Disclaimer: I am not the mastermind behind Harry Potter, I am but a humble fan. This is of my own imagination and is in no way associated with JK. Hopefully that was good enough.

He paces the waiting room of St. Mungo's for what seems like the millionth time, and yet again he glances up at the clock on the wall. It is not a useful clock like his mothers is, this clock taunts him with its mere numbers. His mother's clock was at least informative. It at least told you where any of his particular family members were at any given time. This clock however is infuriatingly far less informative. He looks at it again, without really taking in the time and continues pacing.

"Ron" he barely registers his own name. His mind is so full of spiraling thoughts. "Ron" he hears his name again and looks up.

His father is there, and puts his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Ron, sit down, everything will be fine" Arthur Weasley tells his youngest son.

Ron looks around, he is grateful he has so many people here with him but all he can think about is his wife. His father is there, as well as all his brothers, with the exception of Fred, but he can't think about Fred right now. Even Charlie has come all the way from Romania to be here for him. Mr. Granger has taken time from his dentistry practice to be here as well. Harry and Ginny are here too, even with their small untidy black haired boy napping on his mother's lap. He is very grateful for all of them; however he does not take his father's advice and continues pacing. _Something is wrong_ he thinks to himself,_ it shouldn't take this long, should it?_ He wishes he knew what was going on, would give anything to be able to be in the room with her, hold her hand. Was she scared? Was she in pain? Did she wish he was there by her side as well? What is he thinking about? Of course she is feeling all these things! _Please, oh please! Someone tell me what's going on, please tell me everything is ok, some news! Any news! _He looks at the clock again. Desperation and panic are gripping at him as the minutes tick past. Every tick tock of the clock ringing in his head. _Has time slowed down?_ He wonders to himself _or has it simply stopped all together? Just to taunt him further? _

He vaguely feels a hand on his elbow slowly leading him away from that dreadful, taunting clock. He looks up again but see's Harry this time and not his father.

"Ron" he distantly hears his name again.

"Ron" Harry say's again "I know what you're going through, I know it's awful and really hard to sit here and wait but everything will be ok"

Ron looks up, his anguished face looking into Harry's "You can't know that Harry" Ron says. _I am so scared, what if something happens to her? I will never be able to forgive myself. _He doesn't dare say these words aloud, he can't bear the thought.

"Nothing will happen to her Ron, it's all going to be ok. Do you want to go outside with me and get a bit of fresh air?"

Ron glances down at his own wrist watch now, "No. No Harry, I better stay here" Ron says extremely distracted. "I want to see her the second I'm allowed"

"O.K. Ron, if that's what you want but you should sit down or get some water or something, you're starting to look pale"

But Ron wasn't listening to him anymore and continues his pacing.

The rest of his family is talking in excited whispers. _How can they be so calm?_ _Can't they see something must be wrong? Can't they see how anguished he is? _George even dares to joke about ickle Ronniekins having a panic attack. Ron doesn't care though, he's barely aware of anything in this world. Like they are all fuzzy and he can't see them, or speak to them or think. George quickly backs down after one look from their father. _Why is this taking so long? I am going to lose it if I don't hear something soon! _The minutes tick by in silence now. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. _That damn infuriating clock! _ As endless time slowly moves by, he doesn't know if it has been minutes or hours or days, he just needs to know something, anything, NOW! As soon as he thinks this and prepares to go walk up to the receptionist desk and demand that he be let in, the double doors swoop open and he see's Mrs. Granger emerge. He sigh's with relief.

"What? What's happened? Is she ok? Am I allowed in? What's happened?" Ron can't stop himself from blurting all of this out into his Mother-in-laws face.

"It's ok Ron" She says. "You can go in now; they are in the second room on the left".

Ron bolts from the waiting room, his heart thudding rapidly in his chest. His time has finally come; he can finally see his wife, make sure she is ok. He stops at her hospital room door and attempts to compose himself. Taking a deep breath he walks into her room. His mother turns to him with tears welling up on her eyes. "Oh, Ronnie, she did beautifully, congratulations" His mother says as she hugs him tightly and leaves the room.

Ron walks slowly up to her bed; she looks so tiered with her bushy hair pulled back into a pony tail and loose strands clinging to her damp forehead. Yet, he's never seen her look more beautiful, radiant, like the sun was shining though her very skin and not from somewhere far away. He feels like a sleep walker as he hazily makes his way up to her and kneels by her bedside. "Hermione, I was so worried, how are?"

She smiles her radiant beaming smile and says "I'm fine Ron, really. Would you like to meet your daughter?"

Ron blinks several times…._He…..He has a daughter? Him. Ron? _"It's…it's a girl" He whispers, more to himself than anyone in particular. He stands up, leans in and kisses his wife gently on her forehead. "I…. I can't believe we have a little girl Hermione". He looks down into the pink bundle of blankets to the face of the little girl….his little girl, wrapped in her mother's arms. She was so beautiful sleeping soundly, her little cheeks flushed a rosy color and her little wisps of strawberry hair. He tried to speak but he has a quickly swelling lump in his throat. He just stares at his daughter and then looks up at his wife, swallows hard and says "She's…..she's beautiful Hermione"

"I know she is, she looks so much like you" and she smiles. "She so obviously inherited the famous Weasley trait I love so much, with her vividly red hair. But….she also has your eyes"

Ron looks down again at his sleeping daughter. "Do you want to hold her?" He hears Hermione ask. His heart starts slamming again in his chest, _him? Hold this tiny little person? Him with his ruff Quidditch hands on her delicate little body? No, he couldn't possibly. He would hurt her._

"I don't want to wake her up" He says lamely. He knows he can't avoid the moment to hold his daughter, their daughter, forever but she is just too new. Minutes old….no, he couldn't do it. Hermione on the other hand just smiles at him, reaches out a hand and slips it into his.

"It's ok Ron, she won't bite you. Just sit down and you can hold her"

Ron was so nervous. He didn't want to hurt his daughter, but he sat as his wife had asked of him. It's the least he could do after she has been through so much, after she has held this little being in her body and went through what seemed like, to him at least, endless hours of labor. So he took a breath and simply said "okay".

She placed the warm pink bundle in his arms, and the lump swelled again in his throat. He just stares down at the little girl with rosy cheeks and strawberry locks. Tears start to obscure his vision as he looks down at his little girl. He takes in everything about her, her soft skin, her warm weight in his arms, the feel of breath rushing in and out of her tiny little body, and a single tear streams down his cheek. He tries to hide it, but his wife simply wipes it away with her thumb and puts her hand on his knee.

"She has your nose" He tells his wife "Thank Merlin for that" and finally he smiles. It felt like he hasn't smiled in days, week's maybe. He has been too worried over everything, frightened for his wife and the impending birth of their baby. He bravely withdraws one of his arms cradled around his daughter and reaches out and takes his wife's hand in his.

"I love you" He tells her. "You're amazing you are. I feel like the luckiest guy in this whole wide world. I now have two of the most lovely ladies on the planet". And he brings her hand to his lips and kisses it gently.

She smiles serenely at her husband and her daughter. "I love you too, Ron".

These minutes were short lived. There was a loud clambering as a sea of red heads entered the room. He looked up on fright, his daughter securely in one arm and his wife's hand intertwined in his in the other. Fleur and Ginny squealed in delight at the little pink bundle in Ron's arms.

"Can I hold 'er Ron?" Fleur asks.

Ron looks to his wife and she nods with that radiant smile on her face. He nervously hands her over, slowly, gently. Of course Bill and Fleur have kids of their own now, but this was different, this was his kid. He wanted her treated delicately, so he reluctantly let her pass hands. Soon enough he was surrounded by people, being hugged from every angle by his mother, his sister and his mother-in-law. His brothers, Mr. Granger and Harry were thumping him on the back and punching him in the arm and shaking his hand with many "Congratulations". His father hugged him tightly with a huge smile on his face. The room quickly started warming up as so many people crammed into Hermione's hospital room.

"I'm going down the grates to get a drink, do you want anything?" He asks Hermione.

"No thanks Ron, I'm fine"

"Okay, I'll be right back" and he gripped her hand and gently squeezed it.

He emerged from the room and was able to breathe again. As bad as he wanted to get into that room to see his wife before, now he just wanted to get away. He went down to the small gift shop and got a bottle of water, walked outside and sat on a bench and took a sip. He quickly zoned out as everything from that day came crashing over him. The blank look must have registered on his face because next thing he heard was Harry's voice next to him saying "Hello, Earth to Ron"

He snapped out of it and looked up.

"Hope I'm not Interrupting anything" Harry said with a smirk on his face.

"No, of course not Harry. Thanks for being here today, can you believe I have a daughter?"

"I know, it's wonderful isn't it? How are you doing? You were a mess earlier"

"I couldn't help it, I was so worried and not knowing what was happening was even worse, but I'm fine now. It was just too crazy in that room with everyone. I just needed some air"

"Yeah" said Harry "I know what you mean. I was so grateful when James was born when Ginny made them all leave." He let out one short snort.

"Yeah I think when I get back up there I will do the same, Hermione needs to rest" Said Ron.

"Hey, have you guys decided on a name yet?" Harry asked.

"No, I haven't even thought of that, I wonder what Hermione would like? I kind of would like to name her in honor of your mom, Harry. Lily, she seems so delicate, like a flower. What do you think?"

Harry seemed to think about this for a little while as he didn't respond right away. "I think…..that would be great Ron, but Lily doesn't really seem to fit her does it?"

Ron pondered this for a bit. He was right, Lily didn't suit his daughter, and he thought about her fiery red hair and her rosy cheeks…Rosie…..he like that.

"Well….." Ron started "a rose is a type of flower, maybe Hermione would like Rose? And it is still kind of honoring your mom Harry"

"I love it! I think Hermione will too. What do you say we go up and tell her and I'll have Ginny get them all to leave again"

Ron smiled and stood up. "Yeah let's go. I can't wait to see how Hermione likes the name"

They started walking back to the hospital as Ron smirked to himself, thinking how badly he wanted to see his wife and his little Rosie.


End file.
